Indian firms eye opportunities in life-sciences, renewables and SMEs
Sept 25: A business delegation representing one of India’s oldest chambers of commerce and industry has identified opportunities for investment and cooperation spanning a number of key economic sectors, notably food processing, life sciences, logistics, renewable energy development and entrepreneurship.
A team of business leaders representing New Delhi-based PHD Chamber of Commerce and India, which was established in 1905, wrapped up an exploratory visit at the weekend, pledging to pursue what they characterized as “hugely promising and exciting opportunities” for mutual investment and cooperation between India and the Sultanate.
“The objective of this maiden visit was to identify areas where our members can consider investing in Oman, as well as to encourage Omani companies to invest in India,” said Anil Khaitan, Chairman of Sunil Healthcare Limited, and mission-head.
“Of specific interest to us, from the bilateral standpoint, are three focus areas: life sciences, food processing and Information Technology. But we also envision broad scope for cooperation in a number of other areas, including infrastructure, solar energy resources, tourism resort management, and small and medium enterprise (SME) development,” Khaitan added in comments to the Observer.
One area that has piqued the interest of the delegation is logistics, said Khaitan. “Considering Oman’s strategic location, we envisage that Indian companies would find it useful to look at the Sultanate as a logistics hub for their wider trade and distribution activities. They could consider developing huge warehousing capacity in Oman, from where their products can be shipped out to markets across the GCC, Middle East and North Africa.”
Furthermore, given the Sultanate’s strong emphasis on tourism development, well-established Indian firms can also come in with specialist expertise in the management of highend resorts, the businessman stated. “The Omani government could consider giving management contracts to reputed Indian companies to run tourist hotels and resorts, as well as open up restaurants. This could help address any gaps in the management of tourism properties here.”
Khaitan also pinpointed life-sciences as a potentially promising economic industry. “India, with its well-established capabilities across pharmaceuticals, nutriceuticals, hospitals, diagnostic services and healthcare in general, has a lot to offer the Sultanate’s life-sciences sector. Indian firms can step in and set up comprehensive, professional and wellmanaged life sciences infrastructure in line with the requirements of Oman’s public and private sectors.”
Another segment, which has yet to take off substantially in the Sultanate but which holds immense promise, is solar energy development, the mission-head pointed out. “Oman enjoys the highest solar intensity per square kilometre. With the technology that is currently being rolled out in India, it is possible to have solar banks installed to capture power during the day for use at night. Of course, solar bank technology is relatively expensive at the moment, but costs are slowly reducing. Solar energy development is one area we can work closely with Oman especially as India prepares to install 100,000 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity.”